“Green Mountain was selected as a result of its winning competitive electricity rate, favorable contract terms and leadership in the renewable energy industry." - Charles De Casteja, Good Energy, Lord & Taylor’s energy consulting firm

Austin, TX (PRWEB) June 13, 2012

Green Mountain Energy Company, the nation’s leading competitive retail provider of cleaner energy and carbon offset solutions, is proud to announce that Lord & Taylor is purchasing 100 percent wind energy for seven of its retail stores in New Jersey. With this purchase, Lord & Taylor becomes the first commercial customer in New Jersey for Green Mountain, which recently began selling to businesses in the Garden State.

Lord & Taylor signed an 18 month contract with Green Mountain to purchase over 21 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of 100 percent wind energy for the seven New Jersey locations. The retailer’s purchase of clean energy is expected to avoid over 23 million pounds of CO2 (carbon dioxide) over the term of the contract, which is like taking 763,000 cars off the road for one day, or as much as 1.4 million trees can absorb in one year. In 2011, Lord & Taylor also partnered with Green Mountain to purchase 100 percent wind energy for its flagship store in Manhattan, as well as its Eastchester, NY, store.

“With this purchase, Lord & Taylor is demonstrating an impressive commitment to renewable energy and we are proud to work with them on this effort,” said Scott Hart, president, Commercial Services, Green Mountain Energy Company. “This partnership is also a great way to announce our entrance into the New Jersey market; we look forward to helping other commercial customers further their commitment to sustainable business practices.”

Lord & Taylor’s green power purchase exceeds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Green Power Partnership requirements. The EPA Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to purchase green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with electricity use. In April 2012, Lord & Taylor ranked 17th on the EPA’s Top 20 Retail list; based on this purchase for its New Jersey stores, the company would move up two spots to No. 15 on the current version of the list.

The wind energy to supply the seven Lord & Taylor stores will be purchased by Green Mountain in the form of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which is a widely accepted way to address the greenhouse gas emissions of electricity consumption. Purchasing RECs in the same quantity as Lord & Taylor’s electricity consumption ensures that the amount of energy used by each of the stores is added to the U.S. power grid from renewable sources and supports the further development of these projects.

“Green Mountain was awarded the electricity contract after a comprehensive bid process with multiple energy suppliers,” said Charles De Casteja, managing partner of Good Energy, Lord & Taylor’s energy consulting firm. “Green Mountain was selected as a result of its winning competitive electricity rate, favorable contract terms and leadership in the renewable energy industry.” Good Energy is a New York City-based energy management consulting firm, focused on saving customers money and increasing the value of their assets.

Green Mountain Energy Company
Green Mountain, the nation’s leading competitive retail provider of cleaner energy and carbon offset solutions, was founded in 1997 with the mission to “change the way power is made.” The company is the longest serving green power marketer in the U.S. and believes in using wind, sun and water . . . for good. Green Mountain offers consumers and businesses the choice of cleaner electricity products from renewable sources, as well as a variety of carbon offset products and sustainable solutions for businesses. One of Green Mountain’s largest customers is the “world’s most famous office building,” the Empire State Building in New York City. Green Mountain customers have collectively helped avoid over 19.4 billion pounds of CO2 emissions. As a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG), Green Mountain is backed by one of the nation’s largest renewable power producers. Visit us online at http://www.GreenMountain.com and learn more about our campaign for good at http://www.greenmountain.com/forgood.

EPA Green Power Partnership
The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to buy green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with purchased electricity use. The Partnership currently has more than 1,300 Partner organizations voluntarily purchasing over 23 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually. Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations such as Fortune 500® companies, small and medium sized businesses, local, state, and federal governments, and colleges and universities. For more information, visit http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/.